A Driver Killed While His Tesla Was on Autopilot!

Tesla’s Autopilot, a feature which is currently in a public beta has long been receiving critical acclaim for being by far the best self-driving system available for public use, with videos surfacing of crashes that were prevented by Model S’ Autopilot. Previously a handful of claims were made by various Model S and X owners which were Tesla declined by showing their vehicle logs. This time, though Tesla has accepted that the mistake was on the part of Autopilot in an official blog post titled “A Tragic Loss” mentioning that the vehicle logs showed that the car was in the autonomous mode.

The crash took place when an eighteen wheel trailer drove across the highway perpendicular to the Model S, the white side of the eighteen wheeler was left undetected by both the driver and the Autopilot, this meant the brakes were not applied at all. And the car went under the trailer to crash at the bottom rear end of the eighteen wheeler leaving the driver dead.

This tragic news of a fatality comes after 130 million miles have been driven on Autopilot. According to Tesla, in the US, one person dies in a car crash after every 94 million miles while around the world one person is killed in an accident every 60 million miles. These statistics show that Tesla’s autopilot is safer than non-autonomous vehicles by a factor of two despite being in a beta. Tesla has also notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about the crash, and they will extend their support for the deeper investigation of the matter.

Since the feature is still in its beta, hardware and software issues tend to take place which is why Tesla asks the driver to make an explicit acknowledgement to Autopilot’s terms of use. These terms explicitly mention that the system is in beta and is currently an assist feature that requires driver’s hands on the wheel at all times. Moreover, autopilot now detects whether or not the hands of the driver are on the wheel, and if not, the car issues audio-visual warnings asking the driver to get hold of the wheel and slows itself down until they are back on.

Tesla concluded their announcement by saying:The customer who died in this crash had a loving family and we are beyond saddened by their loss. He was a friend to Tesla and the broader EV community, a person who spent his life focused on innovation and the promise of technology and who believed strongly in Tesla’s mission. We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends.

Do you think this crash took place due to driver’s negligence, or Tesla is to be blamed? Let us know in the comments!

Adan covers all things non-political for Dawn.com and occasionally contributes to PakWheels.com. Along with that, he runs The Nixor Times and a channel on YouTube as youtube.com/adanali1/
He tweets @adanali12